Many people came out to the opening of Jacque Hart's Catenary Textile Art Exhibit at the Center for Arts and Community Enrichment gallery Friday evening.

It was perhaps the largest crowd for an exhibit so far.

Art lovers were not disappointed as they viewed weavings from a variety of looms and made from a variety of materials.

Hart has a long history of artistry. She loved art ever since she was a "tiny kid," and has photos of herself in an artist's smock from back then, she said.

She started weaving with mentor Mae Bekis, a Navajo weaver, in 1974 — just after high school, Hart said.

Bekis taught Hart every aspect of weaving, from dyeing and spinning to processing the fiber, she said, and became a kind of "second mother" to Hart.

In addition to the framed weaving, the Catenary Textile Art Exhibit features scarves, shawls and blankets for sale at the Center for Art and Community Enrichment gallery at 300 Main St. in Fort Morgan. (Dan Barker / Fort Morgan Times)

Hart met Bekis while her husband — Morgan Community College President Kerry Hart — was working at a school in the Four Corners area.

Pursuing a career in art "is not always a straight path," she said.

A number of people helped her along the way, and her work has gone through many stages, Hart said.

She moved from traditional Navajo rugs to working with white fibers and using loom-controlled patterning, learning many ways to weave and how to use a variety of looms.

One of the looms she uses is a harness loom that has eight harnesses in front and 72 in back. Threads go through the "eyes" of the harnesses, which allows her to know just where each and every thread is at any time, Hart said.

One loom has four threads through each eye, but another has only one, giving her complete control over the work, she said.

She has about a half-dozen full-size looms, plus some smaller looms and can put together a loom from simple materials, Hart said.

Among other types of weaving, Hart does tapestry-style weaving, which few artists do anymore, she said. This kind of weaving was done for coats of arms for the aristocracy in Europe.

Weavings have vibrant colors and patterns at the Catenary Textile Art Exhibit at the Center for Arts and Community Enrichment in Fort Morgan. The exhibit will run through March 7 at the CACE gallery at 300 Main St. (Dan Barker / Fort Morgan Times)

Her methods allow her to weave many images next to each other, such as in the "Hang Onto Your Eggs" framed piece, which has images of different kinds in various places — not just mirror images of each other, Hart explained.

To do this kind of complex work, she starts with a free-hand drawing. She then does it again on a graph, which allows her to plan each thread. She decides where color or patterns will go before she even begins a work.

She uses many different types of fiber, from silk and satin to damask and bamboo. She even has her own herd of sheep for wool. She also does hand dyeing of her materials.

A large crowd came to see the opening of the Catenary Textile Art Exhibit at the Center for Arts and Community Enrichment gallery in Fort Morgan Friday evening. (Dan Barker / Fort Morgan Times)

At one point in her career, she was focused on usable weaving, including Colonial coverlets. She is offering a number of scarves, shawls and blankets for sale along with her framed weavings at the exhibit.

For a time, she thought that might be her niche, but her work continued to evolve, Hart said.

From the very beginning, though, she knew she wanted to make images like those in the exhibit.

Among her more recent efforts is her "rock, fire and fiber" series. She makes a weaving, carefully beats it with a rock and uses controlled burning to give it a shape. Then it is placed on an oil painting she also makes.

Hart has sold her work all over the United States, including at a Boston textile museum.

She was part-owner of a gallery in Steamboat Springs, which helped sell her art. It did well beside the oil paintings that are so popular, she said.

When she is working, she treats her work like a job. That means working at least eight hours a day, especially if she is preparing for a show.

Hart said she is currently resting and deciding what her next step might be. One idea is to do brocading, which would give her more control over the colors in the her works.

"I'm really into light," she said.

She is also doing some collaboration with her son, Dustin. He does sculpture using epoxy resin that is blended with her weaving. One of their shared pieces is at the exhibit. Unfortunately, a number of others did not survive the trip to the show, he said.

Spirit

The show is called "catenary," because that means "connected."

"Everything in life is connected," Hart said. "My art connects me to spiritual realities and the world around me."

Much of her current work is focused on spiritual subjects: people's relationship with God and nature, she said.

Using the drawloom as a canvas allows her to express some of those esoteric subjects, Hart said.

She develops her images in concert with already known images, often from nature and science.

Hart says she does not tell the viewer what to think, but lets them interpret the woven canvasses for themselves.

The CACE Gallery of Fine Art, which is free and open to the public, has scheduled hours on Fridays from 4 to 6 p.m. Hart's exhibit will run through March 7.

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